ZIMBABWE: Nearly 3,000 white Zimbabwean farmers faced a midnight legal deadline yesterday to stop working their land, but many farmers vowed to defy the order which could see vital crops rot in the fields.
"There is an air of disbelief and defiance. I think a lot of farmers will carry on working as they have no other choice," said Ms Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU).
"We are also discussing the option of going to the courts to get them to stop the order," she said. Other CFU sources said a behind-the-scenes dialogue was taking place with the government.
Agriculture ministry and other officials of the government of President Robert Mugabe, controversially re-elected in March, were not immediately available for comment.
The order to stop farming from midnight is the latest shot by the government in its battle to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks - a move it asserts is needed to redress the imbalances of the colonial era.
Mr Mugabe's government amended its land acquisition law on May 10th, ordering farmers with land targeted for seizure to stop their activities in 45 days. They must vacate their property by August 10th.
Under the law, a farmer could face two years in prison and/or a fine for doing farm-related work from today.
"A farmer from Tuesday could be arrested for feeding the nation," Ms Williams said.
She said 2,900 of the CFU's 3,150 members were affected by the move, threatening the crucial winter wheat crop in a country already facing critical food shortages which many analysts blame on the "fast-track" land programme.
"We have 22,567 hectares of wheat in the ground which will only be harvested in September/October. Who is going to look after the crop if the farmers stop working?" asked Ms Williams.
Pro-Mugabe supporters, led by veterans of the 1970s war of independence against white minority rule, launched sometimes violent invasions of white-owned farms over two years ago, plunging the southern African country into chaos.
Some white farmers say they have nowhere to go. "We're supposed to stop farming but we'll carry on anyway. We still have a crop in the ground," said one farmer, who asked not to be identified. "But we now also have 45 days to vacate the land and we don't know if we can take our assets. You can't start elsewhere without money or collateral."
The controversial land programme is being carried out against the backdrop of a collapsing economy, with unemployment and inflation racing higher and the value of the Zimbabwean dollar crumbling.
The US criticised the move. "We think the government of Zimbabwe's land policy, including the chaotic and the often violent seizure of privately owned farms has greatly compounded the country's worsening crisis," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.- (Reuters)